What Are You Reading?

[SciFiFisher]

Salem's Lot is one of the best scary vampire stories ever written.

I concur.

[SciFiFisher]

White Trash. "The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America" By Nancy Isenberg

It is an interesting read on the colonization of the new world. Essentially the British did not see colonizing America as a noble enterprise. Rather they saw it as a "wasteland" that needed cultivating and taming to be of value. And who better to do the work of taming and cultivating the savage waste than the dregs of society and the waste people? i.e. the poor, the indigent, and the criminals. I am only a few pages into the book and already I can see how the slave trade was fostered. Initially, the workers were "indentured". They were promised land and the chance to become landowners in exchange for debt slavery that was not much better than the real thing. In reality the people who owned the indentured wound up with most of the large parcels of land and became the first "American aristocrats" trading tobacco and indentured debtors as chattels.

One of the first measures they implemented was in the way indenturing worked. In Britain an indentured servant would only be contracted to work for 2-3 years at most. In the colonies they would be indentured for as long as 7-9 years. And they could be "sold" like chattel without any recourse about it. If they were "sold" they were given no choice except to go where the master said and do what the master said. Women and children were held responsible for the indenture of their men. If a man died before his term was up his children or wife was expected to work or pay back the indenture. These were not africans or other people of color. These were British citizens whose main crime was being poor. The British HATED the poor. The poor were considered to be morally deficient and lazy. It was literally a crime to be poor in Britain. So they rounded them up and indentured them, shipped them to the colonies and sold them to landowners in the Americas. Some they rounded up and put in the poor houses or debtors prison.

So yeah, some light historical reading.

[Thumper]

Taking a break from Astronaut biographies to read the book The Kid got me for Christmas: If I Live Until Morning by Jean Muenchrath. It's the memoir of a woman who while skiing and hiking the John Muir Trail in the '80s, suffered a horrific accident, almost didn't make it off the trail, and has spent the rest of her life healing and recovering. I'm somewhat puzzled and a little irritated that she gave me this to read just before she herself plans a 4 month hike some of which will take her on this very stretch of trail. Actually, I'm in so much pain right now I can't bear to read it, and she hasn't even fallen yet in the book.

[Thumper]

Got about 3 books in the Que right now. Working on an old biography of Deke Slayton and Alan Shepard, two original Mercury 7 astronauts. Surprise, surprise. Mom got me a couple books for Christmas and my birthday. Shatner's new memoir, and Into the Black by Rowland White, chronicling the story of the first flight of a Space Shuttle. But the one I picked up and started is one I quietly got for myself: Broken Horses by singer, songwriter extraordinaire, Brandi Carlile. I've been enamored and slightly obsessed with her in the last year or so. Call back to the crying thread: I cannot listen to the song Broken Horses without getting good and fired up and usually tearing up.

[Thumper]

Into the Black by Rowland White is an absolutely fascinating account of all the events leading up to the first Shuttle launches. I knew very little of the DoD and black ops that were a part of the early decision processes and helped the program along the way. So far a great read. But of course it's in my wheel house.

[lady_*nix]

The Water Outlaws by SL Huang, basically a lesbian/feminist fantasy retelling of Water Margin. I'm reading it slowly because it is very intense, which I've come to expect from SL Huang. I have no idea how it compares to the original story, but the worldbuilding, characters, and prose are all excellent, and Huang has a really good grasp of both institutional power and movement infighting. The book is very about politics but it's also just a good fantasy novel.

The Country You Have Never Seen, a collection of SF book reviews and essays by Joanna Russ. Still relevant.

Spear, a lesbian take on an Arthurian legend (see a pattern here?) by Nicola Griffith. Currently on pause because I found it rather slow and boring, which is unusual for Griffith (her Aud Torvingen novels are the exact opposite).

Inversions by Iain M. Banks, the one Cultureverse novel I hadn't yet read. Currently on pause because it's not that good. The framing of the annoying teenage narrator is a poor excuse for the cliches and "dirty old man" moments, especially given the realistic and horrifying portrayal of medieval sexism. It is an entertaining read, but I can't say I'm a fan.